Composer of a string of Broadway musicals, he was best known for Fiddler On the Roof
Days after speaking at a memorial service for his Fiddler On the Roof collaborator Joseph Stein, the composer Jerry Bock has died, aged 81. With Stein and the lyricist Sheldon Harnick, Bock wrote some of the most loved and admired Broadway songs of the last century. Fiddler On the Roof, set in Tsarist Russia and starring Zero Mostel as Tevye the milkman, opened on Broadway in 1964 and broke all box-office records, running for more than 3,200 performances.
The show made Bock world-famous for his lilting, instantly familiar Jewish melodies and catchy rhythms. There was consummate artistry in the way he could set to music even so banal an exchange as "Do you love me?" "Do I what?" "Do you love me?" "Do I love you...?" with its tender, affirmative swerve in the last phrase.
Between 1956 and...
Days after speaking at a memorial service for his Fiddler On the Roof collaborator Joseph Stein, the composer Jerry Bock has died, aged 81. With Stein and the lyricist Sheldon Harnick, Bock wrote some of the most loved and admired Broadway songs of the last century. Fiddler On the Roof, set in Tsarist Russia and starring Zero Mostel as Tevye the milkman, opened on Broadway in 1964 and broke all box-office records, running for more than 3,200 performances.
The show made Bock world-famous for his lilting, instantly familiar Jewish melodies and catchy rhythms. There was consummate artistry in the way he could set to music even so banal an exchange as "Do you love me?" "Do I what?" "Do you love me?" "Do I love you...?" with its tender, affirmative swerve in the last phrase.
Between 1956 and...
- 11/4/2010
- by Michael Coveney
- The Guardian - Film News
Tony Award winning composer Jerry Bock has died of heart failure, aged 81. He passed away at Northern Westchester Hospital in Mount Kisco, New York on Wednesday morning, November 3. Bock cemented his place in musical theater history after composing the score to "Fiddler on the Roof" with lyricist Sheldon Harnick.
The collaboration earned the two men Tonys in 1965. The pair took home Tony gold again in 1960, for the music and lyrics to "Fiorello!"
Bock was also nominated for Tonys in 1967 - for "The Apple Tree" - and again in 1971 - for "The Rothschilds". His other Broadway credits include "The Body Beautiful", "Mr. Wonderful" and "She Loves Me".
Bock made his Broadway debut in 1955 with lyricist Larry Holofcener, whom he met in college, on "To Catch a Star".
The collaboration earned the two men Tonys in 1965. The pair took home Tony gold again in 1960, for the music and lyrics to "Fiorello!"
Bock was also nominated for Tonys in 1967 - for "The Apple Tree" - and again in 1971 - for "The Rothschilds". His other Broadway credits include "The Body Beautiful", "Mr. Wonderful" and "She Loves Me".
Bock made his Broadway debut in 1955 with lyricist Larry Holofcener, whom he met in college, on "To Catch a Star".
- 11/4/2010
- by AceShowbiz.com
- Aceshowbiz
New York – Jerry Bock, who composed the music to some of the most memorable shows in Broadway history, including the melodies for "Fiorello!" and "Fiddler on the Roof," has died. He was 81.Richard M. Ticktin, Bock's attorney and family friend, said the composer died Wednesday morning at Northern Westchester Hospital in Mount Kisco, N.Y., of heart failure.Together with lyricist Sheldon Harnick, Bock wrote the powerful score to "Fiddler on the Roof," one of the most successful productions in the history of the American musical theater, having an initial run of eight years. It earned the two men Tony Awards in 1965."He was wonderful to work with," said Harnick, who collaborated with Bock for 13 years. "I think in all of the years that we worked together, I only remember one or two arguments — and those were at the beginning of the collaboration when we were still feeling each other out.
- 11/3/2010
- backstage.com
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